Damian Lillard continued his rookie of the year march, Will Barton had another promising performance and JJ Hickson had one of his most well-rounded statistical nights of the season. But it wasn’t enough to prevent the deep and daunting Nuggets (54-25) from establishing a new franchise record for victories, which includes a record 22 in a row at home.

But it also may have been a revealing one. As general manager Neil Olshey finalizes his plans for the offseason and plots a course for the next layer of his rebuilding project at One Center Court, one potential blueprint to follow was lurking a few steps away from the Blazers’ bench at the Pepsi Center.

Denver, like Portland, is not at the top of most free agent’s wish list. But general manager Masai Ujiri has deftly navigated past the Carmelo Anthony era with a mix of shrewd trades and second-tier signings that have ushered in a new brand of Nuggets basketball.

While the Blazers (33-47) stayed relevant for five months with a razor-thin roster that leaned prominently on its starting five, the Nuggets have run all over the Western Conference with a deep roster that features a surplus of talent at virtually every position. The Nuggets no longer have Anthony. There’s no No LeBron James or Kobe Bryant on the roster.

But there’s a glut of athleticism and basketball talent, and coach George Karl has exploited his depth by playing a relentless, powerful, breakneck style that has overwhelmed many a team this season.

The Blazers’ dream of assembling a Big Three died long ago with crippling injuries to franchise cornerstones Brandon Roy and Greg Oden. As Olshey charges into the offseason, perhaps he will look at Denver’s success and use a similar model.

“They have a lot of players who can make plays,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “I think a lot of people make, probably, a little too much about a Big Three, or a go-to guy, or whatever. I think when you have a team of players that are all able to make plays and willing to make plays for either themselves or others, it becomes a truer sense of the word team.”

And Denver is, if nothing else, a team. Ten Nuggets played Sunday, six reached double figures in scoring and each contributed something to the victory. Andre Iguodala had a monster game, finishing with 28 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and three blocks, and Ty Lawson added 12 points and 10 assists. But the bench excelled, too, adding 48 points.

Many Blazers fans probably hadn’t heard of Evan Fournier before Sunday night. All the rookie guard did was torch the Blazers with 24 points, nailing two critical three-pointers in the closing 2:40, when the Blazers were threatening to come back from a 20-point deficit and steal a win.

During the Blazers’ losing streak, fans have seen the painful repercussions of playing without Nicolas Batum, Wesley Matthews and LaMarcus Aldridge, who skipped Sunday’s game with a sprained right ankle. When even one of the important trio has missed time this season, it’s been problematic. Missing all three has been a nightmare.

But it’s a different story in Denver. Danilo Gallinari tore his left ACL earlier this month, but the Nuggets continue to chug along, accumulating a 3-1 record in his absence. Even on Sunday, when starting forward Kenneth Faried injured his left ankle in the opening three minutes and never returned, Karl simply inserted JaVale McGee and Anthony Randolph into Faried’s spot and the two combined to record 28 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.

Denver’s bench entered Sunday’s game averaging 41.3 points per game, 8.4 assists, 3.7 steals and 3.0 blocks while shooting 48 percent, ranking among the top five in the NBA in each category.

“It’s scary,” Matthews said of the Nuggets’ depth. “Any given night, anybody can be the hero. So in that sense, it has to make you respect everybody. The more players you have that can be effective, it’s going to benefit your team — unless you’ve got a LeBron James or a (Kevin Durant) or a Kobe.”

Lillard on Sunday scored 25 of his game-high 30 points in the second half and made four three-pointers to give him 181 on the season — tied for the most in one season in franchise history with Damon Stoudamire, who accomplished the feat in 2004-05. Barton had 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists and Hickson added 19 points, nine rebounds and a career-high six assists for the Blazers.

But it wasn’t nearly enough to outlast the deep and talented Nuggets, who shot 74 percent in the first quarter and led by as many as 20 points before a furious second-half comeback got the Blazers to within three points in the fourth quarter.

“I think it would make our jobs a lot easier as starters if we were as deep a team like Denver,” Lillard said. “But I think we’re going in the right direction. I feel like the guys on our team will get better. With more opportunity, they’ll gain more confidence. I’m not going to say it’s something that we need to go out looking for. We just might have (depth) here already.”

Perhaps. But everyone outside the Blazers’ locker room sees the team’s holes and Olshey is poised to accentuate his core talent with more help.

At least one rebuilding model he will contemplate was at the Pepsi Center Sunday night.

“I do appreciate it,” Stotts said, when asked about the way the Nuggets play. “But I appreciate a lot of styles in this league. I appreciate the way San Antonio plays and the way Oklahoma City plays. Indiana, the way they defend. So I appreciate success and continuity and teamwork and there are a lot of teams in the NBA that do that in different ways.”